Assessment of Obesity by Using Various Anthropometric Measurements among Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Residing in North India

Background Obesity is one of the main risk factors of coronary heart disease (CHD). Although a range of anthropometric measures are available to evaluate obesity, which measure is the most precise to predict the risk of CHD is still controversial. Therefore, we assess the prevalence of obesity among patients with CHD by using various anthropometric techniques to find out the most efficient method to predict the risk of CHD. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we included 300 CHD patients and 100 age and sex-matched healthy controls, aged 45-70 years. Various anthropometric measurements (waist and hip circumference, waist-hip ratio, body mass index, and body fat percentage) were taken to assess the prevalence of obesity among the selected population. Results Average waist circumference among male and female patients was significantly higher than the controls; 94.0±13.2 vs. 86.4±4.4 (p < 0.001) and 97.8±12.1 vs. 86.9±5.3 (p < 0.001) respectively. The average waist-hip ratio among patients of both genders was significantly higher than controls 1.0±.06 vs. 0.92±.04 (p < 0.001) among males and 0.96±.07 vs. 0.88±.04 (p < 0.001) among females, respectively. The average body mass index (BMI) was not different among male patients (24.6±4.0) compared to controls (24.3±2.3); however, the frequency distribution of BMI among male patients and controls was significantly different (p < 0.05), whereas female patients had significantly higher BMI compared to controls 27.7±4.9 and 25.1±2.4, (p < 0.001). Similarly, body fat percentage and visceral fat percentage were elevated among female cases vs. female controls, but no significant difference was observed in the body fat percentage of male cases vs. controls 28.0±5.0 vs. 28.1±2.7; (p > 0.05). However, visceral fat percentage was significantly elevated among male cases vs. controls 11.6±5.7 vs. 9.6±2.6 (p < 0.05). Conclusions Central adiposity markers, waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and visceral fat percentage were uniformly present in patients of both sexes and are stronger predictors of risk of CHD relative to the BMI.